Welcome to the Science of Sport where we bring you the second, third, and fourth level of analysis you will not find anywhere else.

Be it doping in sport, hot topics like Caster Semenya or Oscar Pistorius, or the dehydration myth, we try to translate the science behind sports and sports performance. Consider a donation if you like what you see here!

Doping // Posts categorised as Doping

A proposal to recalibrate the track and field world records by removing all records set prior to 2005 has caused considerable controversy. I offer some views on the proposal, and explain why the step is probably necessary, but should not be 'abused' as a sign of a new generation.

The history of antidoping can be divided into two overlapping phases. There was once a huge lack of a "way" - inadequate tools to catch doping, leaving antidoping two steps behind the cheats. Advances in science have narrowed this, creating a better "way". This has exposed a bigger problem - a lack of "will". This article describes this, and offers a conceptual solution.

An explosive new investigative report has revealed that numerous athletes have tested positive when their samples from Beijing 2008 were retested. They include Jamaican male sprinters, so dominant in those Games. The IOC and WADA however did not act, suggesting the cases are all contamination, not worthy of pursuing. How viable is this, and what does it mean for already bottomed-out anti-doping credibility?

Kenenisa Bekele kicks off the 2017 Marathon season in Dubai, with what is a potential world record. It's the year of the "Breaking-2" after Nike's announcement last December. This article is an expanded version of one I wrote for an SA Newspaper on Jan 15th, 2017

The doping case of Steven Colvert is crucial because it asks questions of the trustworthiness of the science that is used to catch dopers. This article looks at the background and some conceptual questions arising out of his case, with wider implications for the anti-doping movement

In response to my recent critique of Matthew Syed's article on whistleblowers and secrecy, he sent me an email and requested it be published here on my site. Here then, is Syed's response, and my final thoughts on this before we hit the Rio Olympics.

Matthew Syed recently wrote a piece dismissing the real fears of whistleblowers over retribution when they dare to speak up about doping in sport. He ignores an overwhelming body of evidence, dozens of examples that show why whistleblowers are the exception, not the norm. In this piece, I fix his original article for integrity.

A guest opinion piece by anti-doping advocate Renee Anne Shirley, describing the two sides of Dick Pound, who led the recent investigation into the IAAF's scandal, but who seemingly contradicted his own report's findings when backing Sebastian Coe.